Occurrence and distribution of pharmaceuticals in wastewater from households, livestock farms, hospitals and pharmaceutical manufactures

• Published in: Chemosphere (Oxford) Vol. 82; no. 2; pp. 179 - 186
• Main Authors: Sim, Won-Jin, Lee, Ji-Woo, Lee, Eung-Sun, Shin, Sun-Kyoung, Hwang, Seung-Ryul, Oh, Jeong-Eun
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier Ltd 2011; Elsevier
• Subjects: Animal Husbandry - statistics & numerical data; Antibiotics; Applied sciences; caffeine; Drug Industry - statistics & numerical data; Effluents; Environmental Monitoring; Exact sciences and technology; Farms; Hospitals; Hospitals - statistics & numerical data; Households; Housing - statistics & numerical data; Industrial Waste - analysis; Influents; Livestock; Livestock farms; manufacturing; nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory agents; Pharmaceutical manufactures; Pharmaceutical Preparations - analysis; Pharmaceuticals; Pollution; pollution load; Sampling; Solid Phase Extraction; Waste Disposal, Fluid; Waste water; wastewater treatment; Wastewater treatment plants; Water Pollutants, Chemical - analysis; Water Pollution, Chemical - statistics & numerical data; Hospitals; Wastewater treatment plants; Livestock farms; Households; Pharmaceutical manufactures; Pharmaceuticals; Waste water; Agriculture; Urban waste water; Hospital; Sampling; Non steroid compound; Organic compounds; Caffeine; Drug; Farming animal; Rural environment; Household; Livestock farm; Sewage treatment plant; Domestic waste water; Antibiotic; Industrial waste water; Livestock; Rearing; Effluent; Farming
• ISSN: 0045-6535; 1879-1298
• DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2010.10.026

Twenty-four pharmaceuticals were measured in wastewater from 12 municipal wastewater treatment plants (M-WWTPs), four livestock WWTPs (L-WWTPs), four hospital WWTPs (H-WWTPs) and four pharmaceutical manufacture WWTPs (P-WWTPs). The total concentration of pharmaceuticals in the influent samples was highest in the L-WWTPs followed by the P-WWTPs, H-WWTPs and M-WWTPs. The effluents had different patterns of pharmaceuticals than their corresponding influents because of the different fate of each compound in the WWTPs. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) were the most dominant in the influents from the M-WWTPs and P-WWTPs, while antibiotics were dominantly detected in the L-WWTP. In the H-WWTP influents, NSAIDs, caffeine and carbamazepine were dominant. In the P-WWTPs, the distribution of pharmaceuticals in the effluents varied with sampling sites and periods. The M-WWTP influents had the highest daily loads, while the effluents showed somewhat similar levels in all source types.